(Thank you Matt Ian for the art, I hope you don't mind my vandalism)So I've been playing Mass Effect on my friend's Xbox 360 for a while. (I don't own one myself, I can't afford it.) I really like the game. It's every SciFi novel I ever read as a kid all rolled into one really fun game to play. However recently, it's gotten some poorly researched attacks by people who really don't know what they're talking about.
The first bit is from Cathy Ruse.
First of all, apparently a game that is rated M for mature is clearly marketed to minors. Even if we were to buy the argument that unless it's sold next to the porn, ratings will mean nothing to stop minors from buying them. The game box art doesn't look anything like something that is marketed for minors, the color scheme is too dark, and no one is smiling. Companies are usually pretty obvious when they market something to minors, and when they're not.
Secondly, to call the minute amount of sexual scenes in the game a "distorted lesson about human sexuality and human dignity" Is more than unfair. You play the game and there is a build up of a dialog between consenting adults who struggle with horrific terrors and at the same time challenge ideas of human loyalty, extra-special racism, and deep ideas of intimacy. It's not Shakespeare, but we don't live in a polarity that everything is either fine art or trash.
The second one that has gotten the most press was this commentary by Kevin McCullough.
I've been playing this game for a while, and I really don't have that many choices of who to have sex with, it actually ends up being a choice between two people, Kaidan a hopeless romantic with psychokinesis, or Liara a bookish scientist with psychokinesis. While Kaidan is cute and all, I have a certain penchant for bookish types. That's it, in fact as you go through the game, each character starts getting more upset if you try to "play the field" and makes you choose. All the while my good friend is asking if I can have sex with the Krogan, (who looks like a cross between a dinosaur and a turtle, and has the manners of a steam roller. Go figure, she has adventurous taste.)
Although McCullough has since apologized, (twice) for some of the more outright lies in his article, he hardly seems to seem any more reasonable. The problem is that many of these pundits are making entire opinions without playing the game or knowing anything about the game. Even McCullough based his opinions entirely on stuff he saw on YouTube.
I'm all for protecting smut from getting to minors, and reducing unfavorable depictions of women in the media. And I think we as a society has progressed quite a bit in the last few decades. Mass Effect is in many ways the product of how far we've come in progress. We have here real depictions of men women aliens and humans in an in depth story in which shows people with true strength of character and human realities of emotion, loyalty, duty, and even faith. (Ashley Williams is a quite religious) If the ideas that violent video games are "killing simulators" are in any way true, then could there also be "socialization simulators"? We live in a time when we can't trust our neighbors, coworkers, or fellow bus riders. We live secluded and separated from our fellow people and have rare moments to ever be comfortable with getting to know anyone. That's a hard life, and it causes more psychological pain than any video game can muster. We are social animals, to keep us away from human contact is like denying a plant light. We need to figure out a way to understand how to interact with each other, and learn that human interactions are about love,consequences, pain, and forgiveness.
The first bit is from Cathy Ruse.
The game is "clearly marketed to minors," Cathy Ruse, a lawyer and senior fellow for legal studies at the Family Research Council, told Cybercast News Service.
"There are cultural implications for feeding porn to kids in this way," and "when you do this, you're teaching them a distorted lesson about human sexuality and human dignity. These are lessons that they will take with them into adulthood and ultimately society," Ruse said.
First of all, apparently a game that is rated M for mature is clearly marketed to minors. Even if we were to buy the argument that unless it's sold next to the porn, ratings will mean nothing to stop minors from buying them. The game box art doesn't look anything like something that is marketed for minors, the color scheme is too dark, and no one is smiling. Companies are usually pretty obvious when they market something to minors, and when they're not.
Secondly, to call the minute amount of sexual scenes in the game a "distorted lesson about human sexuality and human dignity" Is more than unfair. You play the game and there is a build up of a dialog between consenting adults who struggle with horrific terrors and at the same time challenge ideas of human loyalty, extra-special racism, and deep ideas of intimacy. It's not Shakespeare, but we don't live in a polarity that everything is either fine art or trash.
The second one that has gotten the most press was this commentary by Kevin McCullough.
And because of the digital chip age in which we live - "Mass Effect" can be customized to sodomize whatever, whoever, however, the game player wishes.
I've been playing this game for a while, and I really don't have that many choices of who to have sex with, it actually ends up being a choice between two people, Kaidan a hopeless romantic with psychokinesis, or Liara a bookish scientist with psychokinesis. While Kaidan is cute and all, I have a certain penchant for bookish types. That's it, in fact as you go through the game, each character starts getting more upset if you try to "play the field" and makes you choose. All the while my good friend is asking if I can have sex with the Krogan, (who looks like a cross between a dinosaur and a turtle, and has the manners of a steam roller. Go figure, she has adventurous taste.)
Although McCullough has since apologized, (twice) for some of the more outright lies in his article, he hardly seems to seem any more reasonable. The problem is that many of these pundits are making entire opinions without playing the game or knowing anything about the game. Even McCullough based his opinions entirely on stuff he saw on YouTube.
I'm all for protecting smut from getting to minors, and reducing unfavorable depictions of women in the media. And I think we as a society has progressed quite a bit in the last few decades. Mass Effect is in many ways the product of how far we've come in progress. We have here real depictions of men women aliens and humans in an in depth story in which shows people with true strength of character and human realities of emotion, loyalty, duty, and even faith. (Ashley Williams is a quite religious) If the ideas that violent video games are "killing simulators" are in any way true, then could there also be "socialization simulators"? We live in a time when we can't trust our neighbors, coworkers, or fellow bus riders. We live secluded and separated from our fellow people and have rare moments to ever be comfortable with getting to know anyone. That's a hard life, and it causes more psychological pain than any video game can muster. We are social animals, to keep us away from human contact is like denying a plant light. We need to figure out a way to understand how to interact with each other, and learn that human interactions are about love,consequences, pain, and forgiveness.
1 comment:
that was such a cute comic i wish there were more. i just finished the game, twice. in afew days no less. its a wonderful game, full of things that no other game has done remotely well at. the romance subplot was so realistic in the interaction and rapport building when it came to an end so tastefully i was taken aback by it. most impressive.
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